Week in Review

The left likes to attack religion. Pointing out how those in power created all religions. To control the people. And to increase their power. They note that these religions are not based in scientific fact. But on faith. And silly superstitions. Not intelligent thought. Which is why the left attacks religion. To free people from these silly superstitions. So they can control the people with their own silly superstitions and faith (see I Spent 28 Hours on a Bus. I Loved It. by Eric Holthaus posted 2/4/2014 on Slate).

For the first time, 195 nations backed a consensus statement saying that humanity is “extremely likely” (greater than 95 percent confidence) to be the dominant cause. That’s about the same confidence doctors have that smoking causes cancer…

That means we have no choice but to change our collective path right now.

There is no such thing as consensus in science. We don’t take votes in science. We use the scientific method. And here’s how Merriam-Webster defines the scientific method:

principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses

Do you see anything about taking votes and forming a consensus? No. Because it’s not science when you take votes and form a consensus. When empirical data and experimentation uphold a hypothesis what does that mean? It means we haven’t disproved that hypothesis yet. It doesn’t mean that hypothesis is a scientific fact. It just means someone hasn’t come around to disprove it yet.

We don’t know what killed off the dinosaurs yet. We have many hypotheses. A massive meteorite hit the earth. A period of volatile volcanic activity. Continental drift cooled the planet. Dinosaur flatulence warmed the planet. Aliens killed them. Or took them away. There are many theories. But no one knows for sure what happened. And scientists haven’t taken a vote to settle the matter once and for all. They are still working to figure that out. Because that’s the scientific method. Whereas the theory of global warming (let’s call it what it was before their warming predictions were proven wrong and they opted to use climate change) is the only ‘science’ the left wants us to accept as settled science. Without any further inquiry. And they even belittle anyone who believes in the scientific method as climate change deniers. Because we don’t pray at the altar of global warming. Turning our world over to those who want to regulate every aspect of our lives.

Climate was around a lot longer than dinosaurs. Yet while we can only make educated hypotheses on what happened to the dinosaurs we can supposedly understand fully something that predates the dinosaurs. Which is preposterous to say the least. In the Seventies they were warning us about global cooling. Then in the Nineties they were warning us about global warming. Without ever saying that they were wrong when they said the planet was cooling. Or why we should believe them now when they were wrong before. And not just a little wrong. They were the most wrong possible. Changing from one extreme (cooling) to the other extreme (warming).

Climate doesn’t only predate the dinosaurs. It also predates man. And there was a lot of climate activity going on long before man created his first carbon emission. Once upon a time there were no polar icecaps. Then at another time glaciers reached down from the polar regions to near the equator. These extremes happened long before the internal combustion engine. Or the coal-fired power plant. In fact, these things happened when there were no manmade carbon emissions. So what caused these climate extremes that were much more extreme than the climate of today? Whatever it was we do know one thing. Man did not cause them. Just as he is not causing global warming today. For it may come a shock to liberals but man is not bigger than climate. Climate is bigger than man. And it can bring on another ice age and kill us in droves.

If you live in a northern clime look out your window at that snow and ice covering the ground. Now ask yourself this. How much food do you think our farmers could grow if their fields were covered with snow and ice all year round? Or if the temperatures never rose enough to warm the wet soil enough to allow seeds to germinate? None. That’s how much. We can irrigate land during a summer drought. But there will be nothing we can do to warm and dry the soil enough to grow food. Which means the climate doomsayers were right in the Seventies. Global cooling is the greater threat. Not warming. And anyone worried about manmade global warming should ask the climate ‘scientists’ to explain how the polar icecaps could melt, glaciers could extend down from the polar regions to the equator and then recede back to the polar regions without any manmade global warming around to cause this climate change. And if they can explain how with a straight face than perhaps we should listen to them. But not until then.

Politics 101

Democrats offered Enthusiastic Applause for Unsound Policy Proposals that have no Basis in Reality

President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address was a little longer than an hour. But if you didn’t look at a clock it felt a lot longer. For it was the same tripe you hear all the time from this administration. And the political left. It was full of misleading statements. Inaccurate facts and figures. And some lies. The usual stuff you expect from the liberal left. But what was really disturbing was the enthusiastic applause for some really unsound policy proposals that have no basis in reality. Showing either how clueless these enthusiastic Democrats are about economics, business, national security, etc. Or how amoral they are in their quest for power. As they judge and implement policy not by how it will improve the lives of Americans. But how it will improve their lives in government.

If there was ever an example of what people not to have in power this state of the union theater was it. Following are excerpts from President Obama’s speech (see FULL TRANSCRIPT: Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address posted 1/28/2014 on The Washington Post). Comments and analysis follow each excerpt.

And here are the results of your efforts: the lowest unemployment rate in over five years; a rebounding housing market — (applause) — a manufacturing sector that’s adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s — (applause) — more oil produced — more oil produced at home than we buy from the rest of the world, the first time that’s happened in nearly twenty years — (applause) — our deficits cut by more than half; and for the first time — (applause) — for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world’s number one place to invest; America is.

The total number of people who left the civilian labor force since President Obama took office is 11,301,000 (see The BLS Employment Situation Summary for December 2013 posted 1/13/2014 on PITHOCRATES). Which means the unemployment rate is meaningless. The only reason why it’s falling is that the BLS doesn’t count unemployed people who gave up looking for jobs that just aren’t there. Oil production on private land may be up. While overall oil consumption is down because of the Great Recession that just won’t end. Which is helping to keep gas prices down. Unemployed people just don’t have the money to buy gas. So they don’t. Greatly reducing the demand for gas. Thus reducing gas prices and oil imports. George W. Bush’s last deficit was $498.37 billion. President Obama’s first deficit was $1,539.22 billion. And it was over $1 trillion in 2010, 2011 and 2012. It fell to $680 billion in 2013 thanks to the sequester. But the deficit is larger now than when President Obama assumed office. The only reduction in the deficit is a reduction in the amount he increased it.

Now, as president, I’m committed to making Washington work better, and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here.

Really? You’re committed to rebuilding the trust of the people? Mr. “If you like your health insurance you can keep your health insurance. Period.” Otherwise known as the lie of the year. You’re going to rebuild the trust of the people? Good luck with that. What with your pants on fire and all.

Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by; let alone to get ahead. And too many still aren’t working at all.

Well, finally something Republicans can agree with the president about. Yes, his economic policies have benefitted Wall Street. While hurting Main Street. Finally some bipartisan agreement.

So let’s make that decision easier for more companies. Both Democrats and Republicans have argued that our tax code is riddled with wasteful, complicated loopholes that punish businesses investing here, and reward companies that keep profits abroad. Let’s flip that equation. Let’s work together to close those loopholes, end those incentives to ship jobs overseas, and lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs right here at home. (Cheers, applause.)

There are only a few reasons why businesses export jobs. And the big three are taxes, regulations and labor costs. The Obama administration wants to raise taxes. They’ve increased regulatory costs. And they support costly union labor. So everything they stand for encourages businesses to export jobs.

But — but I’ll act on my own to slash bureaucracy and streamline the permitting process for key projects, so we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible. (Applause.)

So how’s that approval for the Keystone XL pipeline coming along? That thing you’ve been studying since 2010? Which by the laws of arithmetic is approximately 4 years ago. Is this slashing bureaucracy and streamlining the permitting process? At this rate it would probably be quicker to elect a Republican president in 2016. You know, someone who, when it comes to economic activity, walks it while the Democrats only talk it.

We also have the chance, right now, to beat other countries in the race for the next wave of high-tech manufacturing jobs. And my administration’s launched two hubs for high-tech manufacturing in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Youngstown, Ohio, where we’ve connected businesses to research universities that can help America lead the world in advanced technologies.

Universities are in the grant business. They want as many grants as they can get to help bring money into the university. And to do so they will study anything the government wants them to. No matter how wasteful it is. While some of the biggest high-tech companies started in garages. Apple, Google, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. To name a few. Yes, there is a lot of university-driven research. But the big innovation is more entrepreneurial. Created by people thinking up new stuff no one thought of yet. Which is the last thing you want government involved in. That same government that can’t build a website using 1990s technology.

Let’s do more to help the entrepreneurs and small business owners who create most new jobs in America. Over the past five years, my administration has made more loans to small business owners than any other. And when 98 percent of our exporters are small businesses, new trade partnerships with Europe and the Asia-Pacific will help them create even more jobs. We need to work together on tools like bipartisan trade promotion authority to protect our workers, protect our environment and open new markets to new goods stamped “Made in the USA.” (Applause.)

You want to help entrepreneurs and small business? Get rid of Obamacare. And slash tax rates. This will provide incentive. And allow them to reinvest more of their earnings to grow their business. Allowing them to create those jobs.

Now, one of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy. The “all the above” energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today America is closer to energy independence than we have been in decades. (Applause.)

‘All of the above’ as long as it isn’t coal, oil or nuclear. But if it’s solar power and wind power they are committed to giving more tax dollars to their friends and bundlers in the green energy industry.

Meanwhile, my administration will keep working with the industry to sustain production and jobs growth while strengthening protection of our air, our water, our communities. And while we’re at it, I’ll use my authority to protect more of our pristine federal lands for future generations. (Applause.)

You can’t sustain production and jobs growth by strengthening protection of our air, water and pristine federal lands. That’s just more regulatory costs. And raising energy costs by not allowing any oil or natural gas production on those pristine federal lands. Raising energy costs by restricting supply. Which raises business costs. In addition to those new regulatory costs.

Every four minutes another American home or business goes solar, every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job can’t be outsourced. Let’s continue that progress with a smarter tax policy that stops giving $4 billion a year to fossil fuel industries that don’t need it so we can invest more in fuels of the future that do. (Cheers, applause.)

That says it all. Fossil fuels don’t need subsidies because their costs are affordable. While solar (and wind power) are so costly that they are unaffordable. Unless government heavily subsidizes them.

But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. (Applause.) And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did. (Cheers, applause.)

There is no such thing as settled science. Only science that has yet to be disproved. Besides, once upon a time glaciers stretched down from the poles to near the equator. And then receded back to where they are now. All without any manmade carbon in the atmosphere to warm the planet. As we were still simple hunter and gatherers then. So if the glaciers moved more before there was manmade global warming they’ll move again regardless of what man is doing to warm the planet.

Finally, if we’re serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, law enforcement — and fix our broken immigration system. (Cheers, applause.) Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted, and I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same. Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: When people come here to fulfill their dreams — to study, invent, contribute to our culture — they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everybody. So let’s get immigration reform done this year. (Cheers, applause.) Let’s get it done. It’s time.

Funny how that argument doesn’t apply to birth control and abortion. The reason we need to “fix our broken immigration system.” For if we were having babies at the rate when government created the welfare state we could pay for that welfare state today. But thanks to the Sixties, birth control, abortion and feminism women stopped having babies. Which is fine if a woman doesn’t want to. But the progressives designed the welfare state based on them being baby machines. Creating a greater number of taxpayers with each generation. So more people pay into the welfare state than collect from it. The way it must be for a Ponzi scheme to work.

That’s why I’ve been asking CEOs to give more long-term unemployed workers a fair shot at new jobs, a new chance to support their families. And in fact, this week many will come to the White House to make that commitment real.

When you raise the cost of labor (union labor, Obamacare, etc.) businesses tend to look at automating production instead of hiring that costly labor. They may not be able to do anything about the higher regulatory costs but they can do something about higher labor costs. Use more machines than people. If you want CEOs to create new jobs stop making labor so costly. And you can start with getting rid of Obamacare.

Of course, it’s not enough to train today’s workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow’s workforce, by guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education. (Applause.)…

Five years ago we set out to change the odds for all our kids. We worked with lenders to reform student loans, and today more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. Race to the Top, with the help of governors from both parties, has helped states raise expectations and performance. Teachers and principals in schools from Tennessee to Washington, D.C., are making big strides in preparing students with the skills for the new economy — problem solving, critical thinking, science, technology, engineering, math.

Yes, more kids are going to college than ever before. But they’re going there to have fun. And to facilitate their fun many are getting easy, worthless degrees in the social sciences and humanities. Costly degrees that universities sold them promising them future riches. Enriching the university. While impoverishing their graduates. For a high-tech company has no use for these degrees. Which is why a lot of these people end up in jobs they didn’t need that costly degree to do. And our high-tech companies are using the visa program to get foreigners who have the skills they want. Problem solving, critical thinking, science, technology, engineering and math.

It requires everything from more challenging curriculums and more demanding parents to better support for teachers and new ways to measure how well our kids think, not how well they can fill in a bubble on a test. But it is worth it — and it is working.

If you want kids to do better we need to champion marriage and family more. And they should embrace religion a little more. Instead of encouraging our young women to use birth control and abortion to avoid marriage and family. And pulling every last vestige of religion from our lives. Kids growing up in a household with a mother and a father who go to church do far better on average than kids growing up in a single-parent household and don’t go to church (see Strong families steeped in Conservative Values and Traditions do Well in America posted 1/11/2014 on PITHOCRATES).

Research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child’s life is high-quality early education. (Applause.) Last year, I asked this Congress to help states make high-quality pre-K available to every 4-year-old. And as a parent as well as a president, I repeat that request tonight.

Actually, research doesn’t show that. Yet they keep saying that. For it’s like that line in the musical Evita, “Get them while they’re young, Evita. Get them while they’re young.” The sooner they can take them away from their parents the sooner they can start turning them into Democrat voters. Such as teaching them to blame their parents for the manmade global warming that is killing the polar bears as they have no ice to rest on while eating their baby seals.

You know, today, women make up about half our workforce, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment.

Women deserve equal pay for equal work. (Cheers, applause.)

Actually, it’s closer to 91 cents (see The White House’s use of data on the gender wage gap by Glenn Kessler posted 6/5/2012 on The Washington Post). And the small difference is not due to discrimination but personal choice. When you look at aggregate wages women will make less than men. Because more women are teachers (with 3 month off without pay) than men are. Some women work fewer hours at work to spend more time with their children. While men tend to work more overtime. Men also work the more dangerous and higher paying jobs. And are more likely to belong to a union. When you compare childless, single men and women with a college degree some women are actually earning more than men. Figures don’t lie but liars figure. And for the contortions the Obama administration did here The Washington Post’s The Fact Checker gave the president one Pinocchio.

Now, women hold a majority of lower-wage jobs, but they’re not the only ones stifled by stagnant wages. Americans understand that some people will earn more money than others, and we don’t resent those who, by virtue of their efforts, achieve incredible success. That’s what America’s all about. But Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full-time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. (Applause.)

In the year since I asked this Congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have passed laws to raise theirs.

You’re not going to have a lot of upward mobility when you pay people more to remain in the jobs they hate. All the talk about making college more affordable and bringing employers and community colleges together to help give people the skills they need to fill the jobs employers have is all for nothing if they just pay people more for doing an entry-level job.

Let’s do more to help Americans save for retirement. Today most workers don’t have a pension. A Social Security check often isn’t enough on its own. And while the stock market has doubled over the last five years, that doesn’t help folks who don’t have 401(k)s. That’s why tomorrow I will direct the Treasury to create a new way for working Americans to start their own retirement savings: MyRA. It’s a — it’s a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg.

Once upon a time people opened a savings account at their local bank and they saved to buy a house. And they saved for their retirement. That’s how people saved when they didn’t have a pension or a 401(k). They can’t do that today because of the Federal Reserve destroying the banking industry by keeping interest rates at zero. If the Fed stopped printing money and let investment capital come from our savings like they did before the Keynesians gave us the Federal Reserve people would be saving like we once did. And we’d stop having Great Depressions, stagflation and Great Recessions. Created by their prolonging the growth side of the business cycle. Which raises prices higher than they normally would go. Making the contraction side of the business cycle that much more painful. As those prices have a much longer way to fall than they normally would. Thanks to the Fed’s meddling with interest rates.

MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in. And if this Congress wants to help, work with me to fix an upside-down tax code that gives big tax breaks to help the wealthy save, but does little or nothing for middle-class Americans, offer every American access to an automatic IRA on the job, so they can save at work just like everybody in this chamber can.

You know why they want these MyRAs? Because they can’t stand people saving money. They love Social Security. Because they can borrow from the Social Security Trust Fund. Which is what they will do with these MyRAs. They will take this money and spend it. Filling the MyRA Trust Fund with a bunch of IOUs. Just like they do with the Social Security Trust Fund. And then provide a retirement benefit like Social Security. That is too small to live on. Whereas if we saved the money ourselves our retirement nest-egg will be much larger. And it will provide for our retirement. Unlike Social Security.

And since the most important investment many families make is their home, send me legislation that protects taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again, and keeps the dream of homeownership alive for future generations. (Applause.)

It was Bill Clinton that set the stage for the subprime mortgage crisis with his Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending (see Bill Clinton created the subprime mortgage crisis with his Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending posted 11/6/2011 on PITHOCRATES). Using the heavy hand of government to get lenders to qualify the unqualified. Then the Fed’s artificially low interest rates were the bait for the trap. Enticing people to borrow huge sums of money because those interest rates were just too good to pass up. Even if they weren’t planning to buy a house to begin with. The subprime mortgage crisis and the resulting Great Recession were government made. If we want to prevent the taxpayers from footing the bill for another housing crisis we need to get the Keynesians out of government.

Already, because of the Affordable Care Act, more than 3 million Americans under age 26 have gained coverage under their parents’ plans. (Applause.)

More than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage — 9 million. (Applause.)

The Washington Post gave this lie three Pinocchios (see Warning: Ignore claims that 3.9 million people signed up for Medicaid because of Obamacare by Glenn Kessler posted 1/16/2014 on The Washington Post). For they’re counting some 3.9 million who would have signed up anyway for Medicaid regardless of the Affordable Care Act. Also, the government was counting people who put a health care plan into their shopping cart as if they signed up for it. Which many couldn’t. As they haven’t programmed the back end of the health care website yet to actually accept payment or to pass that information on to the insurers.

And here’s another number: zero. Because of this law, no American, none, zero, can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a pre-existing condition like asthma or back pain or cancer. (Cheers, applause.) No woman can ever be charged more just because she’s a woman. (Cheers, applause.) And we did all this while adding years to Medicare’s finances, keeping Medicare premiums flat and lowering prescription costs for millions of seniors.

That’s right. Women with reproductive systems that men don’t have won’t pay more for their health insurance than men pay for theirs. How can they do that? Simple. They just are charging men more. To cover the cost of a reproductive system they don’t have.

Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day. I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors, and police officers all over this country who say “we are not afraid,” and I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters and our shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook. (Applause.)

If you take away guns from law-abiding gun owners that won’t keep dangerous people with mental health issues that want to harm people out of our movie theaters, our shopping malls or schools like Sandy Hook. For there are other ways to harm people. Just look at the Boston Marathon bombers. The people he’s talking about not only had mental health issues but they were also smart. Many were even college students. Who probably could think of other ways to hurt people. And you just can’t take away everything they might use to harm people. But you can place these people somewhere where they can’t harm anyone.

You see, in a world of complex threats, our security, our leadership depends on all elements of our power — including strong and principled diplomacy. American diplomacy has rallied more than 50 countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands, and allowed us to reduce our own reliance on Cold War stockpiles.

Since President Obama assumed office he did nothing to support the Green Revolution in Iran. Which kept the hard-line Islamists in power there. He gave Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood by telling Hosni Mubarak that he had to go. Removing the stable anchor of the Middle East. And moved Egypt closer to Iran. (The Egyptian people eventually rose up to overthrow the oppressive Muslim Brotherhood). He went to war in Libya and helped to overthrow Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. Who at the time was a quasi ally in the War on Terror. After the Iraq invasion frightened him into believing he may be next. President Obama was thanked for his Libyan war by al Qaeda with 4 dead Americans in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11. He waited too long to act in the Syrian civil war. Which only brought al Qaeda into the conflict. He failed to attain a status of forces agreement in Iraq. So he pulled all U.S. forces out of Iraq which has only invited al Qaeda in. And it looks like this will be repeated in Afghanistan. He blamed George W. Bush’s wars as recruitment tools for al Qaeda. While his extensive drone use is doing the same thing. Especially in Yemen. The hotbed of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. All that his diplomacy and leadership has done was to make the world a more dangerous place.

American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria’s chemical weapons are being eliminated. (Applause.) And we will continue to work with the international community to usher in the future the Syrian people deserve — a future free of dictatorship, terror and fear.

His diplomacy with Bashar al-Assad in Syria only gave his oppressive regime legitimacy in the civil war he was raging against his people. Making it easier for Assad to kill Syrians with conventional arms while he gives up a token amount of his chemical weapons. While also making Russia who brokered the deal the dominate player in the region.

And it is American diplomacy, backed by pressure, that has halted the progress of Iran’s nuclear program — and rolled back parts of that program — for the very first time in a decade. As we gather here tonight, Iran has begun to eliminate its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium.

It’s not installing advanced centrifuges. Unprecedented inspections help the world verify every day that Iran is not building a bomb. And with our allies and partners, we’re engaged in negotiations to see if we can peacefully achieve a goal we all share: preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. (Applause.)

All Iran is doing is pausing their program. And chemically altering some of their enriched uranium to meet the requirements of this diplomatic deal. But this chemical process is reversible. And they will reverse it once they get what they want. This deal makes the world no safer. If anything it makes it more dangerous. For it does not diminish the Iranian nuclear program in the least. But gives them more time to work on it as they prop up their regime with much needed supplies thanks to a relaxation of the sanctions against them.

These negotiations will be difficult; they may not succeed. We are clear-eyed about Iran’s support for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, which threaten our allies; and we’re clear about the mistrust between our nations, mistrust that cannot be wished away. But these negotiations don’t rely on trust; any long-term deal we agree to must be based on verifiable action that convinces us and the international community that Iran is not building a nuclear bomb. If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today. (Applause.)

The sanctions that we put in place helped make this opportunity possible. But let me be clear: if this Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, I will veto it. (Applause.) For the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed.

The Soviet Union never attacked U.S. soil. And there was a reason they didn’t. They were rational. And knew they would lose a great deal in a war with America. Especially a nuclear one. Which is why they never used their nuclear weapons. But Iran giving a nuclear weapon to a shadowy group that is not a state? With little to lose in using a nuclear weapon? If it’s not a nuclear missile there will be no way in knowing where the nuclear bomb came from. We can have our suspicions that Iran made it and gave it to someone. But do we nuke Iran over that? What if there are more nukes in the hands of al Qaeda, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, etc.? You could nuke Iran back to the Stone Age but it won’t stop those others being used. The president insists this will not happen as Iran signed an agreement. The only problem with that is the Iranians are liars. And they call the United States the Great Satan. These two facts suggest that replacing those sanctions with a promise not to build nuclear bombs was probably not a wise trade.

But for more than two hundred years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress: to create and build and expand the possibilities of individual achievement; to free other nations from tyranny and fear; to promote justice and fairness and equality under the law, so that the words set to paper by our founders are made real for every citizen.

Use our collective shoulder to expand individual achievement? The president believes in the former more than the latter. He didn’t help the Iranians get free from tyranny when he had the chance. And he turned the Egyptian people over to tyranny. The Muslim Brotherhood. Who were oppressing women and Christians. Fairness and equality under the law? Ask those Tea Party groups who were targeted by the IRS about fairness and equality under the law. The Constitution? That document of negative rights? The left hates it. And insists it’s a living document that can evolve over time to suit the needs of an expanding government. So they can do exactly what the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution to prevent from happening.

The Left endorses Unsound Policy Proposals with no Basis in Reality to improve their Chances of Winning Elections

The country is more conservative than liberal (see Liberal Self-Identification Edges Up to New High in 2013 by Jeffrey M. Jones posted 1/10/2014 on Gallup). Which is why liberals want state-funded pre-K to start indoctrinating our children as soon as possible. To get them away from their parents so they can begin the process of turning them into Democrat voters. It’s why kids are getting worthless social science and humanities degrees. To further indoctrinate them. Because their views are minority views. So they need to play loose with the facts. And lie. Which is easier to do with indoctrinated kids than educated adults. You’ll even hear Democrats talk about lowering the voting age. To get a few more years of voting out of these kids before they grow old and wise. And begin voting conservative. So they do what they can to dumb down education. Lie. Cheat. And buy as many votes as they can by giving away free stuff. And the thing they really want to give away is citizenship for illegal aliens. Who they are sure will be forever grateful. And show it by voting Democrat.

This explains the enthusiastic applause for unsound policy proposals that have no basis in reality. For the left is not interested in improving the lives of Americans. They just want to improve their chances of winning elections.

Politics 101

(Originally published December 27th, 2012)

Kids playing with Toy Guns prior to the Sixties had a Moral Code and only Shot the Bad Guys

If you turned on the television on Christmas Eve you no doubt caught A Christmas Story. The story of Ralphie’s quest for a BB gun. Which wasn’t easy. For the classic BB gun block was there at every turn. From his mother. His teacher. Even from Santa Clause. “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

This was everyone’s concern. Not what the effect of playing with guns would do to Ralphie. No one was saying playing with toy BB guns would make him take a real gun to school one day. For that just didn’t happen back then. When Ralphie fantasized about shooting people they were criminals. Who he was protecting his family from. And they were dressed up in classic criminal clothes. Black knit cap. Burglar’s mask. Black and white striped shirt. All comically exaggerated. And when Ralphie shot them they ended up in a pile with an ‘x’ over each eye. Almost cartoonish.

Before the Sixties this is how kids played with guns. They pretended to shoot the bad guys. Enemy soldiers. Indians (back then it was okay to shoot them when playing make believe because they were threatening these kids’ families on the make-believe frontier). Kids may have played with toy guns. But they had a moral code. Only shoot the bad guys. Where the greatest concern of parents was voiced in A Christmas Story. “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

Kids Playing with Toy Guns prior to the Sixties did not shoot Innocent Men, Women and Children

It was like that in the movies and on television, too. That started changing in the Sixties. Televising horrific war scenes from Vietnam into our living rooms. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) showing a brutal murder of a woman in the shower. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) showed likeable bad guys unleashing horrific and graphic violence on innocent people as they robbed banks. A Clockwork Orange (1971) showed young men in gangs having fun committing acts of ultra-violence including some very graphic and brutal rape scenes.

Contrast this to the earlier shoot-em up westerns. On the lawless frontier. Where everyone wore a sidearm. And had a rifle on their horse. When they drew their guns the lead flew. A lot of people got shot. And a lot of people died. But throughout this violence it was always the good guys in their white hats fighting the bad guys in their black hats. Their wounds were bloodless. There were no squibs causing blood to fly to simulate real gunshot wounds. And whenever these rough and tumble cowboys came into town and saw some lovely ladies what did they do? They tipped their hats.

Kids grew up playing cowboys and Indians, soldier and cops & robbers. But never did they shoot innocent men. Or women and children. They didn’t because no movies killed innocent women and children. There were no video games where pimps shot prostitutes. And there were no songs celebrating the shooting of cops. The only song close to killing cops was Paper Lace’s The Night Chicago Died (1974). A song about Al Capone’s gang wars and the cops fighting them. But it’s from the point of view about a cop’s wife sick with worry until her husband comes home.

Gun Violence is a Product of Societal Decay created by the Political Left

While this rise in realistic graphic violence in movies was going on something else was happening. We were losing our religion. The Sixties had a catch phrase. Sex, drugs and rock and roll. It was the era of free love and expanding your mind with mind-expanding drugs. Hallucinogens. LSD. Women started using birth control and abortion to facilitate that free love. And did whatever felt good. Abandoning the morality teachings of their parents. And their church. Turning on their religious past.

Radical elements of the feminist movement attacked marriage. Calling all sex in marriage rape. Demonizing men. Encouraging women to raise their children without a man. And the government stepped in to help. With their Aide to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Having the government step in to be husband and father. Filling housing projects with single mothers. And crime. Which spilled over into the schools these kids attended. Kids in gangs with guns. Who didn’t play cowboys and Indians, soldier or cops & robbers. But shot people for looking at them wrong.

Today gun violence is a product of societal decay. But guns did not cause this societal decay. The political left did. They have long been desensitizing our youth to graphic violence. And they have been systemically attacking religion and the conventional family. Removing moral absolutes. And making our youth incapable of empathy, allowing them to hurt others. This is why people today can shoot innocent men, women and children. When once upon a time people laden with firearms tipped their hats to ladies.

Week in Review

If you’ve ever watched The Five you’ve probably heard Greg Gutfeld (libertarian/quasi conservative) blame all of our woes on liberal college professors. And heard Bob Beckel (liberal) say Greg Gutfeld is full of excrement. And that whenever they play a video of a leftist professor saying something anti-capitalist/socialist/communist Beckel (the one liberal in the group of five) yells that they only put on liberal extremists. Never a conservative extremist. Which he said there are just as many as liberal extremists teaching our kids in college.

As part of the National Religious Curriculum together with the multicultural community in which we live, it is a statutory requirement for Primary School aged children to experience and learn about different cultures.

The workshop is at Staffordshire University and will give your child the opportunity to explore other religions. Children will be looking at religious artifacts, similar to those that would be on display in a museum. They will not be partaking in any religious practices.

Refusal to allow your child to attend this trip will result in a Racial Discrimination note being attached to your child’s education record, which will remain on this file throughout their school career.

England has an official religion. The Church of England. Which is Protestant. That is, Christian. And it has a long history of being Christian. Which makes this school action rather remarkable. For it basically is telling British children to forget their culture and tradition. And observe the greatness of people who are not British.

When an American high school choir wants to sing a Christmas carol referencing Jesus of Nazareth, who the Christmas holiday celebrates, the school authorities shut it down. But they make a trip to expose students to other religions mandatory. Why? Because liberals hate Christianity. And love anything that disparages Christianity. Which is why they will brand any student who doesn’t attend a field trip that enshrines other religions (while banning high school choirs from singing Christmas carols referencing Jesus of Nazareth) as a racist. Even though religion transcends race.

Liberals will say a cross submerged in urine is art. But children not learning the glory of Islam and other non-Christian religions is showing an extreme lack of respect to those religions. And is worthy of branding those children as racist. Even though religion transcends race.

Bob Beckel is a Christian. And is a vocal opponent of the anti-Christian acts of militant Islam. Even condemning the whole Islamic faith as no one in that faith condemns these heinous acts. Yet he fails to see the anti-Christian element in our public schools and universities. Or refuses to see it. For although Beckel is a Christian liberals in general don’t like Christian morals that frown upon premarital sex and abortion. Things liberals are all for. As are our public schools and universities. As is evidenced by their handing out of free birth control. And providing access to abortion services. Even without parental consent wherever they can. And this while one of those religions they want to expose our kids to, Islam, won’t let their women out of the house unless they’re covered from head to toe and in the company of a male family member. There’s no premarital sex or abortion for them. But this is a religion we must show tolerance to. While showing no tolerance to Jesus of Nazareth during the holiday celebrating His birth. Is that because conservatives are in control of the school curriculum? No. It’s because liberals are. So Gutfeld is right. And Beckel is wrong.

Politics 101

(Originally published August 30th, 2012)

King Louis XIV remained Catholic as Protestantism was Breaking Out in Europe and Britain

It’s been awhile since the last ice age. In fact the last time we had a real ice age predated the first civilizations. We still wore animal skins and hunted and gathered our food. Long before we first farmed. But it would get cool again. Shortly after the Black Death (during the 1300s) it did get unseasonably cool. So cool that we now call it the Little Ice Age (from 1350 to 1850 or thereabouts). The glaciers didn’t cover Europe. But it was cold. And wet. The spring took forever to change into summer. While summer was quick to turn into fall. Which led to short growing seasons. Poor harvests. Hunger. And famine.

Martin Luther was no fan of the Pope. Especially because of the indulgences he was selling. A shortcut to heaven. For those with money. Which is what the Pope wanted. Money. For he was doing some costly renovations in Rome. So in 1517 Martin Luther nailed up his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door demanding reform. And kicking off the Protestant Reformation. Well, the Catholic Church wasn’t interested in reform. So Luther set up a new church. With a new religion. Protestantism. A more plain religion. With masses in the common language of the people. Instead of Latin. And no fancy things in the church. No altars. No stain glass. No icons. Just the word of God. With over a thousand years of Catholicism already under their belt, though, a lot of people took offense to this. And their offense offended the new Protestants. So they went to war with each other for a few centuries or so over their religious differences.

King Louis XIV was one of the great French monarchs. Under his rule France was the dominant European power. The Sun King believed in the divine right of kings. Absolute monarchism. Doing pretty much as he pleased. Which included a few wars. And growing an empire with oversea colonies. It cost a pretty penny. And a lot of lives. Louis remained Catholic as Protestantism was breaking out in Europe. And in England. For a couple hundred years or so England and France were bitter enemies. Contesting colonial lands throughout the globe. And defending the true faith. Catholicism. Or Protestantism. The Catholic-Protestant battle lines stretched across Europe. And to distant lands across the globe. Including the New World. Where they would both spend fortunes in waging war.

For the French the American War of Independence had nothing to do with the Americans

The Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, gave the French Voltaire. One of the great Enlightenment philosophers. When Benjamin Franklin was in France the French were eager to bring two of the world’s greatest Enlightenment philosophers together. And did. The French also gave us the great Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu. The greatest influence on the Founding Fathers as they drafted our Constitution. So there was some great thinking percolating in France. Thoughts that focused on science and reason. Not tradition and faith. Even questioning some long-held beliefs about the Catholic Church, the aristocracy and the absolute monarchy.

Louis XIV built a great French empire. The French seemed invincible. Until Louis XV took over. Who lost the Seven Years’ War to the British. And saw French North America become British. (And the Louisiana Territory go to Spain.) That was tough having their eternal foe humiliate them. The Protestant British. It was a blow to French pride. French commerce. And French finances. The near-perpetual state of war that had existed between Britain and France had cost both nations a lot of money. The British decided to recoup some of that money by taxing their American colonies. Which didn’t go over well with the Americans. For unlike France the British had a constitutional monarchy. Where the Parliament restricted the king’s powers. That great institute of the people. Which the Americans had no representation in. Leading to their rebellion. Because they didn’t like being treated like second-class subjects of the British Empire. Which brought about the American Revolutionary War.

After the Americans defeated a British army at the Battle of Saratoga the French joined the Americans in their fight for independence from the oppression of a constitutional monarchy. Which seemed rather odd being that the French at this time was still an absolute monarchy (though now ruled by Louis XVI). Which was far more oppressive than the constitutional variety. But for the French the American War of Independence had nothing to do with the Americans. It had to do with French interests. It was a chance to strike back at their eternal enemy. The Protestant British. And more importantly, when they won they could get back all their colonies they lost in the Seven Years’ War.

The French were Intoxicated with all of those Enlightenment Ideals and the American Win over an Oppressive Monarchy

The Americans won their independence. But the French didn’t get anything they wanted. All they got was a lot of debt. To add to the enormous pile of debt they already had. One of the French conditions for their alliance was that the Americans would not make a separate peace with the British. Which is what the Americans did. Why? Because the French and the Spanish were conspiring against the Americans during the peace talks. So they could expand their holdings in North America at the expense of the British and the Americans. The French were even willing to trade American Independence away. The British, who would rather have Americans on their former lands than the French or Spanish, made a separate peace with the Americans.

This act of diplomacy stunned the French. For they had assurances from the American Congress that they would take the lead in the peace talks. The Americans double-crossed them before they could double-cross the Americans. This wasn’t supposed to happen in the world of European diplomacy. Especially with rubes like the Americans. But it did. And the French were now in a world of hurt. Broke. And facing bankruptcy. Desperately needing new tax revenue King Louis XVI called an Assembly of Notables. The nobility and clergy. But they didn’t want to pay any more taxes. So the king called the Estates-General of 1789. Which included the clergy, the nobility and everyone else (i.e., the Third Estate).

Meanwhile there was widespread hunger and malnutrition. Poor grain harvests (in part due to the Little Ice Age) pushed the price of bread out of reach for many. People were cold, hungry and poor. In the Third Estate, that is. For though they may have been suffering they saw that the nobility and the Catholic clergy were not. In fact, they were living rather well. Which inflamed the masses. Who became intoxicated with all of those Enlightenment ideals. And that American victory over an oppressive monarchy. It got the people thinking. That they didn’t need a nobility any more. The Catholic Church. Or a king. And the people would get rid of these things. For awhile, at least. With something called the French Revolution.

Temperatures will be a little cooler in September when Congress returns from August recess, but House Republicans may heat things up again with a hearing on global warming and climate change.

Democrats are wary of the move, according to Politico. “House Republicans have essentially called Democrats’ bluff by scheduling a long-sought hearing next month on climate change,” Politico said…

“After a quarter-century of wildly alarmist predictions that have failed to pan out — often with specific dates now in the past — we’d say the five-point decline Frank cites is dismayingly low,” said the Journal’s James Taranto, referring to a statement by physicist Adam Frank about how the percent of Americans who understand global warming as a problem has declined since 1989…

Stubborn temperatures that refuse to go up, predicted weather disasters that didn’t occur (such as record numbers of hurricanes) and arctic ice that just won’t melt — no wonder global warming alarmists are trying to diminish the hearing before it even happens.

Only the faithful believe in global warming. Like in any religion. They can’t prove global warming exists. All of their dire predictions have been laughable failures. Yet they tell the faithful to act as if global warming exists. And to vote for them. So they can pass more anti-business policies to save the planet from global warming.

Before global warming do you know what they were warning us about? The coming ice age. All during the Seventies climates experts were warning governments to start stockpiling food as the coming ice age was going to soon shorten the growing season and cause great food shortages (see Global Warming or The “New Ice Age”? Fear of the “Big Freeze” published 1/2/2013 on Global Research). So it’s hard to take any climate expert seriously these days. Especially when they switch warning us about global cooling to global warming within a decade or so. For how can you be so sure about something only to change your mind and be so sure of the complete opposite thing?

Well, there is one way. Faith. For just as God moves in strange and mysterious ways so does climate. To the faithful, at least. Which is why the Democrats are wary of having a hearing on global warming and climate change. Because Republicans don’t embrace the global warming faith. They’ll want to move the debate into the temporal world of science and fact. Instead of leaving any discussions of global warming in the spiritual world. Where all discussions begin after an affirmation of the faith. Like they do on the left. Where they choose to accept global warming as fact. Without proving it factually.

Fundamental Truth

To become the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit the Man Jesus had to Die

There are some Christians who still have bad feelings towards Jews. Who they blame for killing their Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. Even though Christ died for man’s sins. He knew the state was going to execute Him. But He did not try to save Himself. He accepted His fate. Because His death was preordained. It was all part of God’s plan. For Jesus’ ascension into heaven. To become the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit He had to die. And He had to be crucified. As horrible as that was. To give the religion that would follow their most sacred icon. The crucifix. Or cross for the non-Catholics.

God’s will was done. And because of it the Christians got a new religion. Based on the life and death of a Jew. The Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. Which is why the Christian Bible includes the Old Testament. To include the Mosaic teachings that Christ Himself taught. So for Christians to hold a grudge against Judaism is illogical. Especially when the ultimate instrument of Jesus’ death was politics. Not religion.

The Jews lived under a Roman occupation. An uneasy Roman occupation. The Jews were a thorn in Rome’s side. As they were quite burdensome. With their not knuckling under as willingly as others. So to keep the peace they allowed the Jews to keep their religion. Or rather, they tolerated it. Something the high priests and Pharisees were very conscious of. And they didn’t want any trouble that would cause them to lose their privileges. Like this young whippersnapper coming around and riling up the masses. For they knew it wouldn’t take much for the Romans to lose their tolerance of them. And they especially didn’t like His way of not revering them. That especially cheesed them off. So the high priests and Pharisees went to the Romans and said this guy, Jesus, is calling Himself king of the Jews. Something they were sure would not please Caesar. Emperor of them all. Well, one thing led to another and they crucified Christ. Because of politics. Not Judaism.

Some of the Countries today enjoying the Greatest Liberties and Highest Standards of Living have a Christian Past

Jesus has done more to bring peace to the world than anyone else. The golden rule? It has done more to let people live peacefully together than any government law. It made people kind to each other. Instead of the brutes we once were. Religion civilized us. And Jesus did more than most to make that happen. Would that have happened if the Romans hadn’t crucified Him? Of course this is a moot question. For it was God’s will. What happened had to happen. And we are better off because it happened. (When people use religion to justify violence it’s a different story. The horrific wars between Catholics and Protestants had nothing to do with the golden rule. But people who in their zealotry forget the golden rule.)

Death by crucifixion was a long, painful death. People hung by their arms until they could hang no longer. Then they transferred their weight to their legs. Standing up. And this went on until death mercifully came. So Jesus hung by His arms with His weight pulling His tissue and tendons against the nails through His hands. And when He stood the weight of his body forced His tissues and tendons against the nail through his feet. And up and down he went. Forcing those nails through His flesh. A horrible death. But a death He did not try to avoid. People make Him out as some hippy peacenik. But He had guts. Though it’s easy for a God to have that kind of guts. Jesus was just a man when He died.

So something good came from something horrible. The world became a better place. Yes, there were a lot of religious wars when some bastardized Jesus’ teachings. But some of the countries today enjoying the greatest liberties and highest standards of living have a Christian past (and are still predominantly Christian). Like those that were once part of the Christian British Empire. Where the rule of law and the respect for the individual—not the ruling powers—rule supreme. And that would not have happened without Christ. For even the atheist among the Founding Fathers—Thomas Jefferson—thought that Jesus’ teachings were the greatest in the world. So good things can come from bad things. Like another good thing that came from one of the worst things there ever was. Slavery.

Africa is a horrible place. Sadly. In any metric you use Africa measures horribly. More people live in poverty in Africa than they do anywhere else in the world. Africa has the world’s highest infant mortality rates. Africa has the lowest life expectancy rates in the world. Africa has the highest homicide rates in the world. Africa has the lowest per capita GDP in the world. And Africa has the lowest Human Development Index in the world. Which basically says that Africa is the worst place in the world to live. Whereas Europe and the countries that were once part of the Christian British Empire consistently have the best numbers in all of these metrics. Making them some of the best places to live. Unlike Africa.

Of course, the slaves who traveled in the hellish conditions of the slave ships to the New World would have preferred to have remained in Africa. In the world they knew. With the family they knew. Without suffering the horrors of that Atlantic crossing. The slave markets. And their brutal overseers. But something good came from all that suffering. Unfortunately it was not for them. But their distant ancestors. Who today can live in a prosperous black middle class. Where they don’t have to live in poverty. Where their children are likely to survive their childhood. And grow up to live a full life. Where they have a lesser chance of being murdered. Where they can have a much higher standard of living. And a higher Human Development Index. Unlike in Africa.

Slavery in America is the best thing that ever happened for today’s black Americans. Ironically, the ancestors of those who were lucky enough to escape the slave traders don’t live as good a life as those who did not. Today blacks in America are CEOs. Athletes. Movie stars. Hip hop-stars. Doctors. Lawyers. Even president of the United States. So in addition to a prosperous black middle class there are black millionaires in America. Blacks who started with nothing. And earned a champagne and caviar life. Something that just isn’t happening in Africa. Sadly.

Fundamental Truth

The British Subjects were bothered by their Protestant King having a French Catholic Wife

King Henry VIII had a falling out with the Pope. And broke away from the Catholic Church. Putting England on the path to becoming Protestant. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the Protestant Reformation the resulting conflicts between Catholics and Protestants were really horrible. And bloody. Some of England’s greatest enemies during that time were Spain and France. Both Catholic. But this Catholic-Protestant animosity was not limited to her foreign enemies.

Religion played a large part in the English Civil War (1642–1651). In fact, it started it. When King Charles I tried to impose an English prayer book on Presbyterian Scotland. To have a singular religion in England and Scotland. Which the Scottish didn’t embrace. And pushed back on King Charles. Who then wanted to teach the Scottish a lesson. With an army. But to raise an army he needed money. Which meant he had to call Parliament. And when he did they weren’t all that keen on spending money for another war. Then one thing led to another. Resulting in a war between supporters of the king. Cavaliers. And supporters of Parliament. Roundheads.

But there was another religious element. The king’s wife. Henrietta Maria. Of France. Who was a proud practicing Catholic. This bothered a lot of people. The king having a French Catholic wife in a Protestant country where they were still executing Catholics. For practicing religion wrong. And now the king had a Catholic wife. Who they believed was turning the Protestant king Catholic. In fact, they thought that English churches even looked too Catholic for their liking. And they did something about it. They smashed idols. Altars. Vestments. Stained glass. Etc. Anything that you might find in a Catholic Church they destroyed. Believing their churches should be properly Protestant. Plain, boring and dull.

When Hostilities broke out the Anti-Catholic Sentiments among these British Americans were as Strong as Ever

About a hundred years later we come to the American Revolutionary War. Another war between the British people. Great Britain. And the American colonists. Who had grown into their own people. And did not like the mother country treating them as second class citizens in the British Empire. They didn’t like the taxation without representation. Or their mercantile economic policies. Which limited the colonists to raw material suppliers. That they had to sell to Britain. Ship on British ships. Then buy only British goods. Shipped on those same British ships. Goods often manufactured from their own raw materials.

When George Washington settled his accounts with his British agent he didn’t like what he saw. The British mercantile house was profiting more from his labors than he was. And it pissed him off. For George Washington was an astute businessman. One of the few planters that actually made a profit in Virginia. And the current system with Great Britain was just bad business. So when talk of independence came around he was quick to sign on. Both for principle. And for business. For he was an old man. Who knew a lot. And experienced even more. One of the privileges of being an old man.

When hostilities broke out the anti-Catholic sentiments among these British Americans were as strong as ever. And when General Washington’s soldiers expressed those sentiments publically the general quickly put an end to it. For the memories of the English Civil War were not that distant. He did not need to make his task more difficult by adding in that Catholic-Protestant animosity to the current struggle. Especially when there was an attempt to get Canada to join their cause. Which was recently French Canada. A colony of Catholic France. Before the British defeated the French in the Seven Years’ War. Making French Canada British. So the Americans were counting on cashing in on Canada’s anti-British sentiments. And hopefully France’s anti-British sentiments.

Americans were able to Win the Peace because they didn’t Need Government to tell them how to Live

The Canadians didn’t join the Americans. But the French did. And General Washington avoided defeat for 8 years. And won the American Revolutionary War. Against the mightiest empire in the world. A remarkable feat. Then Washington won the peace. Which was even more remarkable. For revolutions rarely end in peace. Because these conflicts are typically civil wars. Where brother fights brother. And when brother fights brother the fighting gets especially brutal. With bitter feelings of animosity. Like those between Catholics and Protestants. Which they often just can’t shut off after the fighting is over. But the Americans could. And did. Which is why their democracy worked. When so many others have failed.

America’s experiment in self-government worked because of men like George Washington. Responsible citizens who tempered their wants with knowledge and experience. Who saw the bigger picture. Who knew when to stand on principle. When to compromise. And when to leave things the hell alone. Not acting on passions. Or emotions. Not acting like children. But adults. Who knew they couldn’t have everything they wanted. And went without a lot of the things they really wanted. For with liberty came personal responsibility. You were free to do pretty much whatever you wanted to do. But that personal responsibility kept you from doing a lot of the things you shouldn’t do. By exercising restraint. Which our Founding Fathers exercised after winning the Revolutionary War. There were no reprisals. No vengeance. Only law. Where justice was blind. Something that didn’t happen during the French Revolution. Fought but 5 years from the close of the American Revolution. But unlike the American Revolution the streets of France ran with blood. Where vengeance ruled the day. And justice wasn’t blind.

This is what makes the American Revolution different. It was the character of the men fighting it. Men of the Enlightenment. Selfless men. Who put the country first. Instead of settling old scores. Helped in part by a short history in the New World. And a long history in the Old World. As they were able to learn the lessons of history. Without having centuries of wrongs to right inflaming their passions. Exceptional men. And exceptional circumstances. Something the French just didn’t have. Which is why the streets of France ran with blood. And why there were many fits and starts to their republic. While the Americans were able to make theirs work from the beginning. Because of the character of its people. Who were not used to a ruling power subjecting them. Who expected no one to take care of them. And just wanted their government to leave them the hell alone. So they could work hard. And provide for their families. And their ideal form of government was one that let them do just that. Not one that was a big part of their life. Or one that provided for them. Made them dependent on it. The Americans were able to win the peace because they didn’t need government to tell them how to live. They chose to live harmoniously together. Thanks to a character honed by their religious beliefs. And having exemplary men to emulate. The Founding Fathers. This is why the Americans were able to win the peace. Why the French were unable to win theirs. And why the Egyptians are struggling to win theirs.

Politics 101

The Left sees Traditional Marriage as a way to make Women Cooks in the Kitchen and Whores in the Bedroom

What’s the difference between conservatives and liberals? Conservatives believe in the genius of the Founding Fathers and embrace the U.S. Constitution. Liberals constantly disparage the Founding Fathers as rich white men who owned slaves. And they bristle at the restraints the Constitution places on them. Conservatives believe in limited government. Liberals believe in big government. Privilege. And feel they are part of an aristocratic class who are exempt from the laws they do not like. Conservatives stand on principle. While liberals will sacrifice principle in the pursuit of power.

The Sixties gave us the Sexual Revolution. Where sex outside of marriage was not only okay it was better. Hippies put sex into everyday ordinary life. Where sex was as causal as an afternoon greeting. Contraception and women’s liberation made the Seventies swing. No one was getting married. They were just living together. And having a lot of sex. With a lot of different people. For it wasn’t the 1950s anymore. No. Women were no longer going to be sexually objectified or trapped into soul-sucking marriages. Which was all the institution of marriage did. Oppressed women.

The Seventies changed all of that. Women could be whatever they wanted to be. And sleep with whoever they wanted to sleep with. For they now had the pill. And when that failed they had abortion. It was truly a time for feminists. As they could be more sexualized than they had ever been before. Those who did get married could ‘swing’ with other married couples. That is, swap wives for sex. Feminists persuaded women to be independent. To have careers. Not to get married. Not to have children. For that would only subjugate them to some man. Where they would end up a cook in the kitchen. And a whore in the bedroom. Serving him. One man. And taking care of a long string of snot-nosed brats sucking the life out of them. This is how the left sees traditional marriage.

Laws encouraged Marriage to Provide more People to Till the Soil and more Soldiers to Defend the Land

So clearly the left had launched a war on the institution of marriage during the Sixties and Seventies. And beyond. For it was everything that was wrong with America. It destroyed a woman’s identity. She even lost her last name. No. It was better for a woman to remain free. And strong. To enjoy sex when she wanted to enjoy sex. Not only when society said she should. In the marital chamber. She should live alone. Or live with someone outside the institution of marriage. So she could remain free. She should have a career. And use birth control and abortion to terminate any pregnancy that could interfere with her career. To remove any reason to consider ever getting married. As well as enjoy the explosion of sexual transmitted diseases her new liberation gave her.

And yet as bad as marriage is the left is trying to make same-sex marriage a Constitutional right. Despite fighting to destroy the institution of marriage for some 3 decades or more. And still fights hard to help women avoid the institution and to keep her family tree a barren one. But when it comes to gays and lesbians who want to get married that changes everything. Marriage is then a beautiful institution where two people can profess their undying love to each other. And denying marital bliss to same-sex couples is discriminatory. Mean. And just plain medieval.

Conservatives oppose same-sex marriage because they don’t want to change the institution of marriage. Which has a tradition that dates back to the beginning of civilization. While there is no such tradition of same-sex marriage. Marriage created the family. Allowing a man and a woman to raise a family. So they can raise, provide for and nurture their children. For unlike most animals in nature whose young can go off on their own after a year or so the human race must spend years rearing their offspring. Which required two parents. One to raise and nurture. And one to provide. Marriage also provided for inheritance. To transfer property down generations. Marriage provided a last name to their children. In time religion entered the marriage ceremony. Adding more tradition. Then came laws to encourage people to marry and raise children. To expand the population. To provide more people to till the soil. And more soldiers to defend the land. As well as increasing the tax base.

The Left attacks the Culture and Traditions of the Political Opposition as they cannot Defeat Them in the Arena of Ideas

So the institution of marriage served many purposes. The most important was to raise children. Because if you couldn’t replace the people killed in battle or died from disease or famine countries would collapse. And because it took so long to rear children traditions and laws developed to facilitate child rearing. Some traditions go back thousands of years. While there is no comparative traditions for same-sex marriage. Or utilitarian purpose for same-sex marriage. Such as expanding the population.

But the left shows no respect for tradition. Unless it’s for a lost tribe in the Amazon that practices cannibalism and human sacrifice. No, that tradition they’ll respect with the reverence of religion. And actively oppose any interruption into their culture or traditions. Even if they are sacrificing young virgins. They’ll fight to protect their culture and tradition. But they have no such respect or reverence for the culture and traditions of Western Civilization.

So the left is many things. But one thing it is not is consistent when it comes to principle. They attack the institution of marriage for those who currently enjoy that institution. While embracing it for those who don’t have it. They will do whatever they can to prevent women from coming down with the ‘disease’ of pregnancy. While championing same-sex couple adoption. They have no tolerance or respect for culture and tradition. Unless it is culture and tradition not found in Western Civilization. Proving that everything to the left is political. And everything they do serves one purpose. To increase their power. And they do that by attacking the culture and traditions of the political opposition. Which they do to destroy them. As they cannot defeat them in the arena of ideas.

Politics 101

Conservatives exact their Revenge on a Tyrannical Government in the Voting Booth

The Obama administration is working hard to protect Americans. By keeping an eye on what they feel is the greatest threat to American security. Anti-government conservatives. Who they want to track. They want to monitor. They even want people to report friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers and acquaintances who say anything critical of government. Even in jest. This is why they kept the reviled and most hated Patriot Act law. That thing the left attacked the Bush Administration for using to spy on Americans talking to people in other countries with known ties to terrorists. Once in power, though, they found the Patriot Act not all that bad after all. For it gave them a lot of power to track enemies of the state. People that disagree with them.

Timothy McVeigh hated the federal government. And he blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 because of what the federal government did in the Waco Siege (1993). Ending that siege by burning the place down. Killing some 76 people. And what happened at Ruby Ridge (1992). Where the federal government brought in the FBI, U.S. marshals and the ATF to take on a man, his children, his wife and a friend. The government laid siege to this family’s cabin in remote Montana. That ended after government agents killed the man’s son and wife. Both sieges were examples of excessive use of force by the federal government against private citizens. Which angered McVeigh. Who set off that bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building to incite a revolt against the Federal government. To get the people to rise up and throw over this tyrannical federal government.

But no one rose up. He was alone. The Waco Siege and Ruby Ridge started a militia movement. Where private citizens dressed up in camouflaged uniforms. Went to meetings. Practiced combat drills in the field on the weekends. And did a lot of speaking out about the abuses of the federal government. But then they put away their camouflaged uniforms Sunday night. And went back to work Monday morning. For these people did not think like Timothy McVeigh. They only talked about fending off the government’s assault on the Constitution, their religion and their traditions. Things that they held dear. And these same things prevented them from ever doing anything like what McVeigh did. No. Their fight was in the voting booth. That’s where they exacted their revenge on a tyrannical government. By voting them out of office. The legal way. The way the things they held dear told them how to exact their revenge on a tyrannical government. Peacefully. And lawfully. By keeping true to the Constitution, their religion and their traditions.

The worst Attacks against America were by Radical Islamists or People with Mental Health Problems

The so-called anti-government conservatives are not a threat to America. Unless you call being good, law-abiding citizens a threat to America. They may be opposed to government policies they see as attacking the things they hold dear. Burt they’re not out there committing violent acts of terrorism. They are not inciting people to commit violent acts of terrorism. They are only exercising their right to free speech. Yes, there have been some who have broken the law. But these were lone wolves if ever there was a lone wolf. Like McVeigh. But the most infamous mass murderers have not been conservatives. For conservatives love America. And the culture and traditions that made this country great. They are proud to be Americans. Which is why they don’t attack America.

The Boston Marathon bombers were radical Islamists. Who hated America. Adam Lanza suffered from mental health problems and felt no empathy for the innocent children and adults he killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre (2012). Radical Islamists killed the American Ambassador in Benghazi and 3 others (2012). Because they hate America. James Holmes suffered from mental health problems and felt no empathy for the innocent people he killed in the Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado (2012). Jared Loughner suffered from mental health problems and felt no empathy for Representative Gabrielle Giffords or the others he shot in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona (2011). Seung-Hui Cho suffered from mental health problems and felt no empathy for the 32 people he killed at Virginia Tech (2007). Nidal Hasan was a radical Islamist who hated America. Shouting “Allahu Akbar” before he killed 13 and wounded 30 at Fort Hood. The 9/11 terrorists were radical Islamists who hated America. They killed about 3,000 Americans in one coordinated attack (2001). Radical Islamists bombed the American Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya (1998). Killing in excess of 200 people. Because they hated America. Radical Islamists bombed the World Trade Center (1993). Killing 6 and injuring more than a thousand. Because they hated America. Between 1978 and 1995 Theodore Kaczynski (aka the Unabomber) killed 3 and wounded 23 in a mail bombing campaign. Because he was as leftist radical that hated Western Civilization. Wanting America to stop using technology. And suffered from mental health problems.

These are some of the worst attacks against America. And there are two common threads in all of these attacks. The perpetrators were either radical Islamists. Or people suffering from mental health problems. Neither of which embraces the U.S. Constitution, our Judeo-Christian values or our traditions. Unlike the conservatives the Obama administration works so hard to protect America from. No, they attack law-abiding conservatives. Call them radical. Anti-American. For not blindly supporting the Obama administration’s policies. And they blame guns. Not the failure of our mental health system to pull these dangerous people off the streets.

Everything is Political to the left—even National Security

They blame guns because the Constitution protects gun ownership. Another Constitutional right the conservatives support. Giving the Obama administration another way to attack conservatives. Telling people that conservatives would rather see innocent men, women and children die from gun violence rather than place any restrictions on gun ownership. Which is but one way the Obama administration attacks conservatives, their religion and their traditions.

An NBA player recently came out of the closet. Announcing that he was gay. And the Left rejoiced. The Daily Show audience roared with applause. As they do every time there is positive news about anything LGBT related. Why? Because the left rejoices any time someone attacks American culture and traditions. Especially those Judeo-Christian values we built the country on. Or the concept of the traditional family. Things the left hates. Continues to attack. And indoctrinates our children to reject. So the left can pull these children away from their parents. Teaching these kids to look to the government instead of their parents. That the federal government is the source of all of our happiness and prosperity. Thus making them lifelong Democrat voters.

It is hard to conclude anything else when the left believes conservatives are a greeter enemy to America than radical Islam. Or the failures of our mental health system. Things the left doesn’t attack. Always finding some sympathetic way to explain them away. Finding some way to blame them on America in general. And conservatives in particular. For everything is political to the left. Even national security. Everything is about winning the next election. Which they work on by constantly attacking their political opponents. Christians. Traditionalists. The family. Parents. And, of course, conservatives.